How long have you driven on "E" ?

[328icod]

I don't intentionally let it get that low, but it seems these cars can run on "empty" for a loooong time.

Any experiences with this with you guys?

[Meatball546]

I can usually get around 60 or 70 miles once the light has come on... I've never gone past when the obc said I have 10 miles on the tank.

[Derouteur]

Yes, it should be about that. I got 48miles in the red before filling up yesterday.

[geero]

yea i get a about 40+/- miles

[TIMSGT]

mylight comes on at about 350-360 miles into the tank. I can fill up at 410 and still have half a gallon left inside.

This happened to me recently, like 3 days ago. I'm driving home from my friends house, its about 9 miles away from my house, my OBC told me my range was 19miles when i started the car. As I hop on the freeway it starts to slowly drop, 18,17,16,15...its goes all teh way to 8 then it went --. It just gave me two lines and while I was on the freeway at lest 3 miles away from the nearest gas station that I knew of. I did some quick mental math and figured taht I could go 425miles before I have absolutely no gas left, and I was at 408 right now, I should be ok but I was still really worried. This was at 1 in the morning I get off on my exit and there is a gas station on the south side of the intersection, but its up hill a bit...and the big rig in front of me is not sitting on the sensor to turn the light green for us. For fear that my car would stall and I'd have to push it uphil(not going to happen) I ran the red into the gas station, and when I filled up it said I put in 16.6 gallons, phew, close one

[ducky328i]

all the way to the gas station...

[iltoivfe]

a good 20-30 miles.. once my obc was flashing 0 mi left when i was at a stoplight across the street from the gas station

[strad]

I don't experiment with things that can destroy expensive fuel pumps.

However, my brother used to own a 96 328 with full obc, and he says that the obc counter is accurate -- when it says "0" your engine stops running lol. I'll take his word for it.

[wendall@cmwerks]

easy kramer.....

[95325i]

I don't experiment with things that can destroy expensive fuel pumps.

However, my brother used to own a 96 328 with full obc, and he says that the obc counter is accurate -- when it says "0" your engine stops running lol. I'll take his word for it.

I have only gotten my 325 so low once that the OBC said "---" in range mode. I then took it to the gas station never gotten that low again on any cars. My wife on the other hand she drivers he car till the needle is below E :eyecrazy

[Boondoggie]

I've driven a few miles with the OBC blinking "---" at me in range mode...

I routinely drive my car all the way to empty. The "you don't want the junk in the bottom of your tank" thing doesn't apply to electronic FI cars with a return fuel line, which keeps the tank fairly swirled... I have encountered it on an old K-jet car...

[JJM345]

I don't experiment with things that can destroy expensive fuel pumps.

However, my brother used to own a 96 328 with full obc, and he says that the obc counter is accurate -- when it says "0" your engine stops running lol. I'll take his word for it.


:laugh

[CoolJoe]

I don't experiment with things that can destroy expensive fuel pumps.


+1 I'm with you on this one. I would always do this on my 325i until one day...:help out in the middle of BFN. What a FUBAR situation.

After paying $450 I was back on the road again. The pump costs $160 give or take & it only takes 10-15 minutes tops to swap it out. Since I didn't have any tools to do the job myself or the pump for that matter I had no choice but to pay. Boy did I learn my lesson. :(

[Phillips0417]

This is allll too familiar...I just went through this a few days ago. I forgot to fill up the previous day before I got home and when I jumped on the interstate the OBC said like 50 miles I think, then acceleration through the toll and slow back road driving made it decline rapidly. I was like 3 miles from work and it was blinking "---."
I got a 5 gallon can from work and drove a company truck to the station and brought back some gas. I probably could've driven to the station, but I was scared to run out. Apparently it goes for a while though....

[filler]

I try to fill up before my "Range" is ~60, because the OBC can't account for my large injectors, it thinks I have 60miles left to run when I really have 20 at the most.

So, I run in the "E" of the gauge for a while.

edit: filler lives on the edge :shifty

[kiwi325i]

my obc went from 3miles to 3 blinking lines. get sketchy for alittle bit

[328 Power 04]

if you get into test number 7 on the OBC you can see how many liters of gas you have left in the tank. I got down to 0.1 L, which was way past "---" on the range; I fueled up and never went so low again.

[travis325i]

my obc went from 3miles to 3 blinking lines. get sketchy for alittle bit

I had that happen also I was in a strange area and the gas stations only sold regular lol. It went to just -- I was freaked out but finally found a station

[1604169]

How long have you driven on "E" ?

I don't do drugs and drive.

[TheOriginalgiga]

I personally attempt not to get too low, when the E comes on, I try to find gas most of the time. But when you live 7 miles from work and the gas station isn't on the direct path, I get very lazy on filling up sometimes. I to have gotten the "---" going up hill and almost 10 miles away from the nearest acceptable fuel source. I leveled out over the hill and took the rest of the journey at 55mph, she got there just fine and still had some fuel in her. But in general I try not to drive too long in E

[Kapoosta]

I don't experiment with things that can destroy expensive fuel pumps.

However, my brother used to own a 96 328 with full obc, and he says that the obc counter is accurate -- when it says "0" your engine stops running lol. I'll take his word for it.

Hmm.. about 3 months ago I completely ran out of gas because little did I know my fuel gauge was off and made my quarter tank mark my new "E". Does the fuel pump usually get damaged when this happens? It still seems to work but now I have rough idle and hesitation during acceleration which I've been trying to figure out via the numerous threads on it.

And I never let it get close to the quarter tank mark anymore.. Could my gauge problem be a faulty fuel level sensor? I just thought it was my gauge being frozen during winter and offsetting itself. Sometimes after filling up to full, the gauge will go too far past the full mark and reset back to "E" then flicker back and forth.

EDIT: Just checked the cluster readings to compare. Got a reading of 118-122 (hex converted to decimal) which corresponds to around halfway between quarter and half tank but the gauge was sitting just over half a tank.. :(

[jfmjr442]

fuel pump gets damaged because it overheats - the fuel keeps it cool - and when you get to the bottom of the tank, you get to the crap in the bottom of the tank.

John

[dfreshx00]

I don't do drugs and drive.

:rofl:


i never go below 1/4 tank. id rahter be a little ocd then buy a new fuel pump.

[328icod]

I don't do drugs and drive.


:rofl

[flyguy91318]

:rofl:


i never go below 1/4 tank. id rahter be a little ocd then buy a new fuel pump.


Im with you on that one. I ran out of gas one time and ended up walking 3 miles home in the dark out in the country not fun!

[sikdogg]

fuel pump gets damaged because it overheats - the fuel keeps it cool - and when you get to the bottom of the tank, you get to the crap in the bottom of the tank.

John
I hear this all the time but i call BS on it... Think about it, where is the fuel pick-up? Not at the top of the tank but the bottom. All cars also have fuel filters for the specific reason of preventing crap from getting in the motor.

Sorry for the OT.

I'm too anal to let my gas level get too low. I've only seen my gas light twice and i filled up as soon as it came on.

[slocar]

I hear this all the time but i call BS on it... Think about it, where is the fuel pick-up? Not at the top of the tank but the bottom. All cars also have fuel filters for the specific reason of preventing crap from getting in the motor.

Sorry for the OT.

I'm too anal to let my gas level get too low. I've only seen my gas light twice and i filled up as soon as it came on.

Yeah I'm not really worried about the gunk making it's way anywhere near the engine (or the pump even) ... you have the strainer on the fuel pump and then the fuel filter; between the two I'd say you'd stop any contaminants long before they got anywhere near the engine.

My only fear with running low is overheating the pump.

I did that once with my 535 ... I thought I had enough to get home, got stuck on the highway for about an hour and a half in a traffic jam with no exits, barely made it to a gas station; about half way through that ordeal the pump started making awkward grumbling noises; I eventually had to replace it. Costly mistake.